For Better, for Worse

First Comes Love #2

by Jennifer Baker

Julie and Matt find their vows tested as they struggle to cope with feelings of jealousy, alienation, and financial responsibility

Genres: Fiction

295 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Kasi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my goodness.

So this book takes place very shortly after To Have and To Hold finished. Julie is still a student at Madison, Matt has a job at the Barn and Grill, they love each other intensely, and Julie's lucky that her ex-roommate and best friend, Dahlia, still loves her as much as she does.

Honestly, if someone had moved out of the dorms after two weeks in my first year at university, there's very little chance that I would have wanted to hang out with that person as much as Julie's ex-dormmates want to hang out with her. It's a bit weird how Julie and Dahlia are super tight after being roommates for only two weeks, but hey, sometimes people just click. (And this is fiction, right? Brain candy.)

Julie's character takes a much-needed turn and there were times where I even celebrated her as I read her strengthening character. An attack on a first-year female student has everyone (towns and gowns) on edge and bring to light the serious divide between the two sides. In the wake of this attack, Julie goes from being meek, timid, and having a hard time breathing without Matt, to a strong woman with a voice who isn't afraid to be heard. She write an article that gets published, airing her frustrations on how women are afraid to speak out, how men have little fear and have no consequences if they decide to verbally/physically/sexually assault a woman, and how it is important that women DO speak out. This was a cool feministy twist that I did not appreciate when I read these when I was younger.

Of course, this puts strain on her relationship with Matt, who doesn't fit in as a townie or a student. He is stuck in the middle, not a local, but not a student, and married to a student. I actually really like Matt's character. I liked him in the first book and I like him even more in this one. He's hard-headed and stubborn, but he has good values, good perspective, and he's loving and protective. He clearly sacrificed a ton in his life to be with Julie, and he is consistently there for her in just about any way that you could ask. He's a good man.

This book has a good ending that leads well into what I remember being the plot for the third book.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

review coming soon

[Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The honeymoon is over for Matt and Julie in this book. It begins on Thanksgiving weekend, everyone is going home leaving the newly weds basically alone with the other townies. The townies are delighted to have rich spoiled college kids gone. There's a rift and soon events will further divide the town and the gown. Matt and Julue have a nearly disastrous Thanksgiving dinner, where Julie basically burns everything and they only have pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce. Dahlia and Nick are stuck in a motel after their car breaks down in the middle of a blizzard and poor Marion is wondering if Fred will ever actually kiss her. Ah college days so simple. I lived off campus both times I attended college, with my parents and then in my own place the second time so I have no idea what college life is like. As Julie and Matt are climbing into bed at the end of the break they hear a terrified scream, they run outside to see a terrified girl on the ground and a man running away. This act will drive a wedge not just in the town but in the month old marriage of Matt and Julie. After Nick confides in her about what a drunken townie said she writes an article for the local paper hinting that it was him. The article is pretty good and sadly nearly 30 years later all too true that women are often afraid to speak up. I mean a girl is attacked at the first question is what were you doing out so late on your own? The girls set up a buddy system until the culprit is caught. Matt is furious with Julie for writing that article and well the whole town is a powder keg about to blow which it does when it comes out that it was one of the college boys who did it. A huge fight breaks out, the restaurant closes early to clean up the mess, Matt and Julie have a huge fight, Julie runs to Nick and they end up doing some kissing while Matt visits the place where they married. They somehow decide to work it out despite this. It was a decent ending and a way to show some conflict resolution in a marriage it isn't all sunshine and rainbows. It ends with Matt starting a mini night club at the Barn and Grill and unable to shake the cough and fever he caught after his night out at their honeymoon place which foreshadows the next book. This was surprisingly good. I missed a lot reading this at age 12 like the feminist message of Julie's article. I know this book is about the first year of marriage but my lord these two go through a lot if I remember how the next two books go.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book two of this series has Matt and Julie facing some serious issues. The whole town and gown issue plus other things that seem to keep getting between them. They are strong enough to make it through that but bigger problems are ahead. These two deserve to have their happy ending. This was as good as I remembered. I am looking forward to re-reading the next two books.